25.1.13

SHARP SHOOTING

The
first incarnation of the Shootout in Blackpool two years ago was a success.

It
entertained the paying public, provided Sky Sports with very good audience
figures and gave the players a chance to let their collective hair down over
what was a bit of well paid fun.

There
was all manner of nonsense talked afterwards about how the rules should be
adapted for the World Championship but this was soon forgotten when proper
snooker soon returned into view.

Last
year’s staging of the Shootout wasn’t quite as entertaining, but that’s the
thing with novelties: they soon wear off.

This
season’s Shootout, sponsored by Betfair, begins this evening with new rules.
Matches will still be ten minutes long but rather than the first five minutes
having a 20 second shotclock and the last five one of 15 seconds, it will now
be 15 seconds for the first five minutes and 10 seconds for the last five.

This
risks making the players look pretty stupid. One of the appeals of snooker is
the skill on show but there is precious little time under this format to even
get into position to play, let alone execute the shot correctly.

The
rules were altered at the insistence of Sky, who felt players were guilty of
running the clock down last year. Even if this is true, it is one of the
inevitabilities of having a timed match.

The
Shootout is a piece of entertainment. It’s an ever-changing cast of players
competing for the £32,000 first prize. However, it is only really compelling
when matches go close.

It’s
better in my view than Power Snooker, of which little has been heard of late,
even though a date for an event was added to the World Snooker calendar for
March, but shouldn’t really be taken seriously – either within snooker circles
or by those who really, really, really want everyone to know how much they
dislike something on television that they are apparently forced to watch/tweet
about all night.

One
player I spoke to last week had it about right: ‘I’m going to go up there, have
a few beers and enjoy myself.’

And
what is wrong with that?

That
said, Neil Robertson isn’t playing and Judd Trump, who recently said snooker audiences
should be more like those at darts, hasn’t entered the one event where this
already happens.

Blackpool
is a party town and I trust a good time will be had by all.

Those
for whom it holds little appeal only have to wait a few days until the German
Masters.

16 comments:

Anonymous
said...

"..but shouldn’t really be taken seriously – either within snooker circles or by those who really, really, really want everyone to know how much they dislike something on television that they are apparently forced to watch/tweet about all night."

ii) it suggests Hearn is a bit myopic when it comes to formats for events (i.e, he thinks he can replicate the success of darts by doing exactly the same thing with snooker). I see that bowls has introduced a shot-clock for its world championship (another carry-over from a Matchroom sport event).

And World Snooker deserve criticism for endorsing Power Snooker and including it in the official calender. It has about as much place on the official calender as an 8 ball pool event.

Nothing wrong with the shoot out,its just a bit of fun,although i agree Dave bringing the shot clock down to 10 secs for the last five minutes will result in players missing a lot of balls.It may not be pretty

The tournament is good fun but I think having a one frame semi-final and final makes it seem like Pot Black. Surely the final should be best of five frames (first to three). One frame for a final seems a bit of an anti-climax.

I know it's been done before and above but I feel an utterly compelling desire to quote the following extremely well put hendonian words: "It’s better in my view than Power Snooker [...] but shouldn’t really be taken seriously – either within snooker circles or by those who really, really, really want everyone to know how much they dislike something on television that they are apparently forced to watch/tweet about all night."

The trouble with people who tend to take themselves too seriously is that they tend to do the same with all the less than important things in life. Regrettable symmetric consistency.

I believe the Shoot Out is fun - I've enjoyed it more than last year and had no fear that the players might look ridiculous if they had to play faster than before. That particular kind of atmosphere is not exactly my own 'cup of tea', but for one/two events in the season, well, it's bearable. The players seemed to love it.

Fun, yes, but the pressure must have been as hard to deal with as in other events and it must have been more difficult to focus.

Come on, we KNOW it is not all serious. It was good fun and I can't help but enjoy it. It isn't "real" snooker but there is real excitement. The players are obviously also excited and everyone's having a laugh.